# Refinery Simulator

6 Hacker News commenters recommended Refinery Simulator and 4 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 2 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** A free browser game that teaches how an oil refinery works in a fun, informative way, with people calling it a great education game.

## Why people recommend it

- Fun, informative way to learn (3 comments): "It was a fun and informative little game though!" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47227288)) "I really liked it and it taught me a lot" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47339387)) "Great little education game." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47339608))
- Explains refinery basics clearly (2 comments): "OOH! Neat! I looked on my mobile phone enough to get a sense of what this is." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47340814)) "I really liked it and it taught me a lot" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47339387))
- Cool concept, well executed (2 comments): "There is a cool game that someone posted a while ago about this" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47972309)) "Great concept and execution." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47338659))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [TinyWind](https://hackerapproved.com/p/tinywind.md): 61 recommend
- [Starfling](https://hackerapproved.com/p/starfling.md): 59 recommend
- [Starcraft: Ashfall](https://hackerapproved.com/p/starcraft-ashfall.md): 46 recommend
- [Half-Life 2 in a Browser](https://hackerapproved.com/p/half-life-2.md): 42 recommend
- [Number Gacha](https://hackerapproved.com/p/number-gacha.md): 33 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Refinery Simulator", https://hackerapproved.com/p/vanilla-javascript-refinery-simulator/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).